


No Rest For The Wicked

by ChopinWorshipper



Series: My beloved nemesis - My significant bother [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Multi, Nightmares, Polyamory, Trauma from the Fall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:21:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 2,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26678908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChopinWorshipper/pseuds/ChopinWorshipper
Summary: There were no words to describe the agony of falling from grace.It was impossible to paint the picture to a non-fallen being, impossible for a not metaphysical being to imagine, and be they ever so imaginative or wise.How could one possibly describe the feeling of the sacred light of God, the blessedness and holiness being ripped from your body and soul? The feeling of your angelic purity burning away, as you slowly and torturously turned from a creature of God to something vile, unholy and evil? Having to watch, as your white wings were set ablaze and burned, only to reappear later, tainted and pitch black …
Series: My beloved nemesis - My significant bother [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2148942
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Lucifer

Lucifer woke up screaming.

He spent the next approximately thirty minutes hyperventilating and shaking like a leaf, before it finally dawned on him, that it had just been a dream. He was fine, the Fall had been 6000 years ago, he was in his own king-sized bed, in his bedroom, in his palace … in Hell.

He had just been sleeping.

Demons technically didn't need to sleep, but sometimes chose to.

However, every time Lucifer chose to sleep, he was haunted by the memory of his fall. The flashback dreams were so harrowing, it was impossible to get used to them. Of course he was. It wouldn't be much of a punishment, if he was able to forget, would it?

Eh, whatever.

He didn't care. Of course he didn't care!

He was the King of all Demons! Leader of the Fallen! Head of the Council of the Seven and the Prince of Pride!

“I'm fine”, he mumbled to himself.

He was _not_ shaken.

He was _not_ crying!

He was not curling up under his covers, trying to convince himself that a stupid nightmare had reduced him to such a state!

That was just preposterous!

“I'm fine”, he repeated to himself again and again, like a mantra.

Until he actually believed it.


	2. Asmodeus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asmodeus, Prince of Lust, has the advantage of being married, so ze never wakes up alone.

Asmodeus awoke with a start.

It took zir a few seconds to realise, that ze wasn't sleeping anymore.

It became obvious, when ze saw that Lilith was sitting next to zir in their marriage bed, her owlish eyes full of concern.

“That dream again?”, she guessed.

“As always”, Asmodeus groaned frustratedly. “Six thousand years and the only improvement is that I don't wake up screaming!” Ze stopped short. “I didn't scream and thrash around in my sleep, did I? Are you hurt?”

Lilith shook her head. “No. You just groaned in your sleep and stirred a lot, but not violently. But as you know, I have sensitive ears. I was about to wake you up, but then you woke up by yourself.”

The Prince of Lust sighed and leaned zir human head onto zir wife's.

Her giant owl wings enveloped zir and she hooted quietly.

Asmodeus sighed once more. Ze was just so tired! “You know, Lilith … as stupid as this sounds, I think I need a vacation.”

“Damn right you do”, Lilith agreed, “You're so overworked, because you and Beelzebub are the only ones actually doing their work, that you actually fell asleep next to me! Even though demons don't need sleep! That's how exhausted you are! Tell you what …” She wound herself out of zir embrace and looked zir in the human eyes. “I bet your partner is just as much of a nervous wreck. How about you and Beelzebub take a vacation together? We both can have some alone time, you and I, and I can take the kids and your work, while you're gone.”

Asmodeus smiled. Ze loved one – _one_ – human turned demon queen.

Have I told you lately how much I adore you, my queen?”

Lilith laughed and told zir to turn around.

She spent the next hours preening Asmodeus' enormous six wings.


	3. Beelzebub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beelzebub has zir promiscuous, married lover to comfort zir.

“ _Beelzebub … Beelzebub …_ Beelzebub, wake up!”

The Lord of the Flies screamed and thrashed around in the grip of the claws that were gripping zir arms.

“Easy! Easy! Calm down, my pretty! It's only me.”

_My pretty?!_

Only one person had the nerve to call Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies and Prince of Gluttony _pretty_ ; not just, because ze was a Prince of Hell and member of the Unholy Trinity, but also because ze the very opposite of pretty.

On top of that, this smooth and sultry feminine voice could only belong to one person.

Beelzebub opened zir eyes and recognised zir own office. Ze was hunched over zir desk and at some point the candles must have burned down. In the darkness ze could make out a red-eyed, red-lipped and deathly pale face smiling with the gentleness only one Prince of Hell was able to muster (even though that person was _far_ from actually being tender).

“ _Aeshma Daeva¹_?”, ze choked.

Asmodeus nodded gently. “Of course it's me, _Baal Zevuv_ ². Settle down now, my pretty. It was a dream and it's over now. Everything is fine.”

“What are you doing here?”, Beelzebub asked.

“I was taking a walk. I passed by your office and heard you groan, like you were in distress. It had me worried.”

The Prince of Lust snapped zir fingers and the room was lit by floating hell flames.

Beelzebub was a bit embarrassed, because surely zir eyes were all puffy and zir face completely tear stained … not that it was that noticeable on zir pitch black skin. As if on cue, the flies crawled out of zir floating white hair and buzzed around Asmodeus.

“Hello there, little pretties”, the Prince of Lust cooed (again, being the only one to ever find Beelzebub's flies _pretty_ ).

The buzzing and Asmodeus' smile were soothing.

But then the latter saw Beelzebub's tear-stained visage and frowned. “Oh! Oh, my pretty …”

The Prince of Gluttony leaned into the clawed hand that was caressing zir face.

“Go ahead”, Asmodeus coaxed the other. “Let it out, Beelz. It's okay to hurt.”

Beelzebub leaned into the taller archdemon's shoulder and allowed zirself to cry.

“I dreamt of _it_ again”, the Lord of the Flies whispered.

“I know”, the Spirit of Anger responded and rubbed the smaller one's back. “We all do. Whenever we choose to sleep. That's why I almost never do.” A bitter smile. “Good thing we demons don't really need sleep, hm?”

“Yes”, Beelzebub croaked. “But I'm just so exhausted …”

“No wonder”, Asmodeus grumbled. “We're both overworked, because we're the only ones with a work ethic.”

“To Heaven with it!”

“Indeed. Hey, how about this: I'll stay with you for a while. You know, give you a massage and all and just generally diverting you. And tomorrow, we both will waltz into the council, give the others Heaven and demand a vacation. It's what we deserve, don't you agree, my pretty?”

“What about your wife and children?”, Beelzebub objected. Trying to keep the jealousy from zir voice at the reminder, that Asmodeus was hitched and leading a successful marriage, despite zir notorious promiscuity – that a mere former human, a being of clay, had put a ring on the Prince of Lust and could say with pride, that they were husband/spouse and wife.

Beelzebub heard the smile in the other's voice, as ze answered: “Don't wreck your pretty head about it, Beelz. Lilith can handle the kids without me for a while. Most of them are big enough to care for themselves by now anyway. And Lilith will be happy to have some quality time to herself.”

The Lord of the Flies sighed and leaned further into Asmodeus' shoulder.

A vacation … that sounded wonderful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Aeshma Daeva (Avestan: "Spirit of Anger/Fury") is a demon from Zoroastrian tradition, which embodies wrath, murder and greed and is armed with a bloody mace. While Aeshma and Asmodeus are not the same being, it's thought that the latter's name is derived from/a reference to the former.  
> 2) Ba'al Z(e)vûv/Baal Zebub (Hebrew: "Lord of the Flies"), a derogative pun used towards the Philistine god Ba'al Zebûl ("Exalted Lord/Lord of the dwelling") and towards that god's worshippers. The Septuagint later transcribed it into Baalzebub, which later morphed into the Beelzebub we all know.
> 
> I just thought it was likely, that the demons would address each other by their older names at least from time to time.


	4. Astaroth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astaroth had really never asked for any of this

As Astaroth awoke, she screamed, but her scream was silent.

Without her voice, which God had taken away, she couldn't scream like all the others could.

Her screams, her tears, her laughter, they all were silent.

So was her sigh of relief, when she realised that it had just been a dream.

With annoyance she realised, that she had fallen asleep completely, whereas to the simple dozing she normally did, when she chose to rest.

Dozing was a way of getting some rest without having to suffer those horrid flashback nightmares, but sometimes …

She pressed her face against the pillows, curled up and wept.

It wasn't fair!

She had done nothing to deserve this!

She had done nothing to deserve her fall from grace and the loss of her voice!

She hadn't sided with Lucifer back then, even though he had freed her from the house arrest/de-facto prison God had put her in before!

Her only crime had been … _knowing too much_.

As the angel of time, she had known past, presence and future (still did) and therefore also the Ineffable Plan. However, no one was allowed to know God's plans (aside from Satan, maybe, but even _he_ didn't know everything – not to the extent Astaroth did).¹

But still … she was innocent … she just wanted to …

Astaroth cried harder.

That went on for a while, until someone knocked on the door.

The Princess of Hell wiped her tears away and wiped her tears away.

She whistled, as a sign that whoever was out there was permitted to enter.

A minor demon came in.

“Your Royal Highness, Princess Astaroth – their Highnesses Beelzebub and Asmodeus are calling for a council meeting in two hours”, the demon announced.

Huh.

That was weird.

And rather short-term.

But Astaroth nodded and the demon bowed and saw themselves out.

Two hours … that was time enough to take a nice bath to relax from the nightmare and to freshen up a little.

And half an hour before the meeting she would kick Belphegor out of bed, just to lean back and enjoy him run down as hastily as a lazy boy like him could, thinking they were under time pressure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) Just to make this clear: this is a headcanon. The idea that Astaroth is a former seraph and guardian of time, rendered mute because he/she knew God's Plans, comes from the German Wikipedia article on Astaroth (once again proving that one should never trust Wikipedia about facts), but since no sources were stated for the things written there, I will treat it as a headcanon and not as actual canon. It's really annoying, because I can't even credit the person who actually came up with this, because the part stating it was quoting no sources, so I don't know who it was. Please don't kill me.


	5. Belphegor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belphegor doesn't get to nap in peace either.

Belphegor also awoke screaming.

When he realised, that he was awake, he groaned and ruffled his blue hair.

“Fuck this shit … I must've fallen asleep completely.”

Contrary to what people believed, he and Astaroth never truly slept – ironically, as they were the demons of sloth. Instead they dozed for a while, never really quite asleep. It was a loophole to avoid those traumatic dreams. Astaroth was a lucid dreamer to boot, but that didn't work on the retrospectral dreams.

_Damn it, Dad! I wasn't even on their side!_

He hadn't been.

But he hadn't been on Heaven's side either.

He had been too cowardly to choose a side and remained neutral and that had been his ruin.

Belphegor grumbled sullenly, before lying back down and resuming his nap.

Unfortunately it didn't last long, because soon someone ripped him from their dozing slumber.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw Princess Astaroth glowering down on him.

 _"Wake up, lazy boy!"_ , she signed (would have snapped at him, had God not stripped her voice away before the Fall). " _Get your demonic ass to work!"_

“Who're ya callin' lazy”, Belphegor slurred, but stood up.

Astaroth shared his position as Prince of Sloth, but as she was Lucifer's left hand, a former Seraph and member of the Unholy Trinity, she outranked him by far. It was too dangerous to resist her. And even though she lacked the capability of speech, she had a lot to say – and certainly didn't need speech to be intimidating!

 _"Beelzebub and Asmodeus are calling in a council meeting"_ , she signed. " _So wash and get dressed. You have half an hour."_

“But that's too little time!”, Belphegor whined.

Astaroth snarled menacingly.

“Alright, alright! On my way, your Royal Highness!”, the other grumbled and dragged himself away to do as told.

_Fucking bitch!_


	6. Mammon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mammon handles their nightmares just a little better than the others.

Mammon hadn't actually been asleep.

They had just hit their head and passed out, but that had been enough to make them relive the horrid memory of the Fall.

The Prince of Greed came to themselves, cursing up a storm; swearing usually made them feel a little better.

“Okay, fuck this shit”, they muttered, “I'll just finish this paperwork, then go rob a bank or something-”

A knock on the door.

It was a muke demon, informing them that there was going to be a council meeting.

“Right, I'll be there”, Mammon replied.

Once they were alone again, they smirked: “Hmm … wonder if Asmodeus will join me afterwards – go shopping, gamble and rob some casinos … it's always more fun with zir!”


	7. Satan & Leviathan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Satan and the Leviathan are both entities apart from the fallen angels, thus they never had issues with trauma. But these two enjoy watching the others grapple with their issues.

Leviathan and Satan were never haunted by that kind of dream, as neither were fallen angels.

Leviathan was a giant sea monster and Satan was an entity God had created before all others, specifically to oppose Him, yet in a way be His right hand.

But they knew of the others' nightmares, of course they knew.

It had once slipped out of Lucifer and Satan hadn't left the fallen Morning Star alone, until he had been told everything.

“They're collectively having nightmares, these six”, Satan reported to the sea serpent, when he was on the phone with him.

The Adversary knew that, because his presence was everywhere but Heaven, thus he always knew what was going on in the entirety of Hell (which belonged to him, by the way, no matter how much Lucifer acted like it was his).

Leviathan chuckled at the other end of the phone: “Well, that'ssss nothing new now, issss it?”

“It's funny”, Satan laughed, “How they still haven't got over it after such a long time! One would think that after having the same dream every time they sleep, they would have got used to it!”

“Well, look at it thissss way”, Leviathan hissed into the phone, “It's fun to sssee them suffer like thissss from time to time, issssn't it?”

Another laugh from the Adversary: “You're so delightfully cruel, my friend!”

A hissing laugh from the other end of the phone.

“By the way”, Satan continued, “There is about to be a council meeting. Will you attend or shall I find someone to step in for you?”

“No need. I'll turn humanoid and teleport mysssself to Hell and it'll be good.”

“Cool! We need to connect again! This is going to be interesting, I can tell!”


End file.
